It’s no secret that I’m not a big fan of Beatles songs played on the ukulele. But even I am impressed by the Roger Greenawalt and David Barratt’s dedication to Beatles ukulele. Their first project was a performance of every Beatles song on the uke for 14 hours straight. Of course, it was all for a good cause. They gave all the money they raised to Warren Buffet.

Their current project, The Beatles Complete on Ukulele, sees them team up with a string of guest singers to record every Beatles song, posting one song a week until 2012 along with an always enlightening essay on the song. The reworkings often give the tunes new and unexpected contexts such as the Alan Cohen Experience chanting the story of Oedipus on Your Mother Should Know and Adam Green serenading the girlfriend he drugged into a coma with I Will.

I caught up with the pair to discuss ukulele persecution, ennobled actors and why everyone loves the Beatles on ukulele.

How did the idea of playing the entire back catalogue of the Beatles in one day on ukulele come about?

Roger: Serendipity. I was uploading the Beatles catalog on iTunes and noticed it only took up 9.6 hours. I realized that you could perform every song in one day.

How did you physically manage to do it?

Roger: In reality it took 14 hours, there were 67 guest musicians and about 40 singers. Just moving that many people around wasted a lot of time. There were several bands carrying the songs behind me, because just uke would be too boring. And I took lots of breaks. We’re doing the gig again this year on December 5/6 at Spike Hill in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This time we’ll have a tough Sharon Osbourne-like stage manager to whip me in to shape and keep the show on schedule. And also this year, unlike last year, we will have about 50 original uke arrangements which to do, which you can hear at: The Beatles Complete on Ukulele

Beatles covers are very popular on the ukulele. Why do you think that is?

Roger: The Beatles can’t help but make sense on ukulele. Because the Beatles began in John Lennon’s mind. And his first instrument was a ukulele. He continued to use ukulele voicings on guitar for his entire career. His songs, and George’s in particular, are completely idiomatic and always work on uke.

McCartney’s writing is as logical as Mozart, and also translates to uke easily.

The big kick of playing their songs on uke is that it gives you a clear insight into their compositional thinking. A lot of what they did was just put their fingers on the most natural, loudest place on each instrument they used. This is good thinking. You see the logic of what they are doing, and admire how they are always sailing with, not against, the natural forces.

Which songs are you most looking forward to tackling? Are there any songs you’re dreading having to tackle?

Dave: The really bad ones are the most fun to do. We saved the embarrassing Maxwell’s Silver Hammer by recording it much slower, in minor, as a non-ironic murder song. Revolution No. 9 is improved as a heavy metal sing along.

The really good ones are more difficult. How do you better Hey Jude or Something? To improve Let It Be we would have to get Barack Obama in to do the vocal. Do you have his number?

Which guest singers have you got lined up?

Dave: We cannot be completely candid about this, as there are many stars who have said yes, but not recorded yet. We can disclose that Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Ian MacKellen are reworking Oh Bla Di Oh Bla Da in the style of Samuel Beckett. Ben Kweller is somewhere in Texas recording She’s A Woman. Ryan Miller of Guster is down for I’m Looking Through You.

Who would be your dream guest?

Roger: Paul McCartney singing and playing Something. I think it will actually happen.

Dave: My dream is Britney Spears and Morrissey doing A Day In The Life as a duet. Britney, of course, would be singing Paul’s part.

Lastly we would like Jane Asher to contact us directly at 347-529-6500.

Here’s a question you asked Warren: With a Hawaiian president, do you think the mindless persecution of the ukulele finally cease?

Dave: The mindless persecution of the ukulele will never cease until Roger and Dave have total political and spiritual power over every sentient being in the universe. This is what we stand for. That, and peace and love. Aloha.

Have you got any plans for the next project once this one is over in 2012?

Roger: I don’t anybody besides Dave and I who has the next three years planned out, so what’s next is not our biggest focus. The constant challenge is this self-imposed, long-term deadline every week. We will either pull it off or not. That will make or break us.

You can keep up to date with the project and download all the songs so far on The Beatles Complete on Ukulele

It’s really saying something when even I’m bored of the sound of ukuleles in adverts. I’ve been back and forth over whether this one actually is a uke. I think it sounds like a violin being played ukulele style.

The song is in the key of B. So I’ve moved everything up a fret to make it more uke-friendly. If you want to play in the original key tune down a semi-tone.

It’s all easy going up to the middle section when you have to start messing with a G# chord. I’ve put the usual chord shapes in the chart, but you might be better off keeping your ring finger on the G string (4th fret for the G chord and 5th fret for the Cm chord) as it makes the G# transition a little easier.

This week’s selection includes the Lancashire Hotpots decrying the emoization of youth, some fantastic off-kilter blues from Yan Yalego, Agathe and her buddies also doing their bit for the Lancashire dialect by dropping a few haitches, the Spoke Ensemble making a rather wonderful noise, George Stone doing a rocking tribute to the Small Faces, Gracie Allen trying to get her Flea right and plenty more. Read the rest of this entry »

Brunswick have jumped onto the ukuleles-that-look-like-guitars bandwagon with a couple of electric/acoustic ukuleles. It’s probably not a coincidence that they’ve gone for exactly the same models as Mahalo have: the Les Paul and a the Telecaster. Visually, they’re an improvement on the Mahalos. And the Southern Ukulele Store says they’re, “These are a step up in quality and playability from the Mahalo LP and Tele style ukes.” Must say, I’m very tempted by the Telecasters (although this is one of those rare occasions where I’d go for a blonde over a brunette).

I used to be a bit of a pineapple h8r but the quality of the models coming out now is turning me round. I creamed myself over a few last week. And this week the Pono Mango Pineapple and the Ko’olau SP-1 have caught my attention.

Some rather fine photos: ukulele girl pyramid, Poncie Ponce, flapper sailor girl.

I think everyone remembers where they were the day the Cheesecake Factory opened. Now you can have this wonderful souvenier of the day. A slice of history.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s performance at the Proms will be released on DVD and Live in London #2 will be out soon. This review of the ukulele prom by Howard Jacobson is fantastic. “Seid umschlungen, Millionen!” indeed.

Jim D’Ville has released a DVD called Play Ukulele by Ear and has set up a website to go along with it. You can read Ukulele Tonya’s review of it here.

The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra will be releasing a new EP, The Dreaming, on 28th September. Tracks include Africa, I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man and Blue Smoke.

Bookulele – A Love Story (via Ukulelezo).

Garfunkel and Oates (Kate Micucci and Riki Lindhome) release their debut album.

Download a bunch of tracks from Toy Horses in exchange for your email address.

Metallica’s Seek and Destroy and Seaside by The Kooks on Uker Tabs.

I’m amazed that no one has put the chords for this up already. It’s a ukulele classic. I suppose it is more than a little over shadowed on A Night at the Opera with it being followed by Bohemian Rhapsody.

It’s no surprise that Brian May learnt the ukulele before the guitar. This performance is definitely not one of someone who is playing the ukulele like a guitar. He’s throwing in a lot of Formby moves. There are a few triplets and, in the solo, a bunch of sort-of-split-strokes.

I think he must be tuned up half a step to G#C#FA#. They certainly seem to be the more natural chord shapes. And they match the chord shapes he’s using in this clip of him discussing the track (but the uke is tuned way down).

For the strumming, he’s doing mainly down strums with a few triplets thrown in to liven things up.

I bought myself a Kala lacewood soprano ukulele as a reward for finally finishing the How to Play Ukulele Strums ebook. So were the endless hours of sweet and tears worth it? Here’s my review:

The Lowdown

Wood: Kala seem to make a bigger deal of the lacewood but the part that matters, the top, is solid sitka spruce. Everything else (back, sides, body, neck) are all solid lacewood.
Fretboard: Rosewood. 12 frets.
Tuners: Sealed, Geared.
Made in: China

The Good Stuff

– The Strumming Sound: I love strumming out on this ukulele. It’s bright, loud and punchy. As you would expect from a uke with a spruce top. It has just the sort of tone I love. You don’t get the force of it on the MP3, but here it is anyway.

Strum Test (MP3) (Sister Kate chords)

– Looks: The leopard-spot grain of the lacewood is gorgeous. The uke is very cleanly put together. There are some fancy-Dan fret markers. And, as a well documented lover of pink, I’m a fan of the purfling.

– Construction: It’s sturdily built (handy when you’re as clumsy as I am) and well put together (no flaws worth mentioning). And the intonation is good.

– Smell: Oh, am I the only who likes to give the soundhole of a new uke a good sniff?

The Not So Good Stuff

– Fingerpicking: I knew when I bought that it would more suited to strumming than picking. I always find my fingers falling over each other when fingerpicking a soprano. And the uke loses a lot of its bite when picked (unless you really give it some hammer).

Judging by the video, David Beckingham does a much better job than me of picking this uke. But here’s my picking test.

Picking Test (MP3) (Larry O’Gaff tab

– Geared Tuners: I don’t have anything against geared tuners in general, but they always feel wrong on a soprano. They throw it off balance. I understand the need for them on cheap ukes, but on more expensive ukes a good set of friction tuners would be very nice.

Conclusion

This one is definitely a keeper. I have a lot of fun playing it. I bought it because I wanted a quality soprano (rather the el-cheapo bashers I had before) for strumming and it certainly fits that purpose. I’d certainly recommend it to anyone with similar requirements. I like the spruce/sexy wood combination so much I’ve now got my eye on an Ohana spruce/maple CK-70G.

Southern Ukulele Store Review

When I bought the ukulele I promised feedback on the UK’s new uke seller: The Southern Ukulele Store. I can tell you they certainly pass muster. They’re friendly and helpful, the uke arrived very quickly (although the strings I ordered at the same time took a few weeks) and everything was very well packaged.

The only downside was the ordering system. I went through their own site rather than eBay and the checkout looked very unprofessional. And once I’d paid I had an error message telling me I’d paid the wrong amount. A quick email to them sorted it all out.

But I’ll definitely be using them again in the future. I’ll be going through eBay, though.

That settles it, I am moving to Norway.

Judging by the new songs that are showing up, Katzenjammer’s next album is going to be a killer. I’ve been waiting for a decent recording of this song to show up for a while. Although the clarity hasn’t helped my lyric transcribing skills any. And it doesn’t help that my cherry pie cooking knowledge isn’t up to much either. So, as always when I work them out myself, the lyrics are incomplete and not to be trusted.

The song kicks off with a nice little chord trick which has chromatic ascending notes on the C string. Then it’s barre chords moving up the neck. At one point in the song she does use the open chord shapes for C and D. So you could do that if you prefer.

There’s a ukulele solo in this version of the song – but it’s too quite to figure out what’s actually going on.

I suppose it’s only appropriate that a song about food ends with a scat verse. The chords in brackets are passing chords (so just use one strum to play them).

They also did Ain’t No Thang in the session. Which is a song I can’t get enough of.

Buy Le Pop

Shelley O’Brien – Generous Waters (MP3) via The Globe and Mail

I’ve had, friend of the blog, PaulC nudging me in the direction of Shelley O’Brien for some time now. And I’m very glad he did. She has a silky, jazz-inflected voice and has a way with a tune. She’s recently released an album You, Me and the Birds and caused a few members of the ukulele community to get hot under the collar with this article. So I fired some questions at her to find out more.

You spent your childhood between two ukulele centres: Hawaii and Canada. Which of those was the biggest factor in you picking up the uke?

Hawaii. Growing up in the dark cold winters of Northern BC, my family planned an escape to Hawaii every other Christmas. It was paradise to me – and getting on a plane in cold BC and getting off to the smell of Hawaiian flowers was magic. Don Ho on the turntable for the rest of the year! Also – according to my parents I was made in Hawaii… :)

How does the ukulele influence the type of songs you write?

I’ve been a piano player since I was three years old, so it had always been the instrument I wrote on. When I picked up a ukulele and started playing 3 years ago (never even having played guitar), it completely changed my world…Four strings! Beautiful sound! Strumming! I would say it led me to some really upbeat and happy chord changes and melodies. Even if the theme of the song is sad or melancholy lyrically, the Uke adds an undeniable element of hope and possibility…

Your songs have an old-school jazz sound. Who inspires you?

When I was booked in 2004 for my first pro gig at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, I was commissioned to learn a bunch of old jazz tunes (ok, ok, I suggested it). I love these old tunes from the american songbook! Following that I started getting bookings on ships, and expanded my repertoire, always with a core of jazz standards from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s – I suppose this was the inspiration for that hint on the album. Lyrically, I like to write about the comings and goings of people, things, relationships – longing for what you want, saying goodbye…on “you, me and the birds” there is a song called “emily, coming and going” which is about a 7-year-old who adapts to living with a father who persues his dreams without her on the other side of the country. another song is “with a will, margerie” which is about a love affair I have with a glacier in Alaska.

I notice you’ve worked the cruise ships. How do you approach performing for that sort of audience?

I do my best to approach all audiences with a combo of humility and gratitude. Contrary to what people may think, cruise ship audiences have been so varied and diverse. In one cruise I could get a couple in their 80’s waltzing as I played an old jazz tune, a young group of women asking me about one of my original songs, and a child sitting beside me humming along to “let it be”. Cruise ships were also the ideal workshop for me – all the songs on the album had their chance to be heard many times as I got opinions of listeners heading up to alaska.

Generally it seems people want to connect to something within you – no matter what the age.

How can people get hold of your music?

In Toronto: Soundscapes. In a few days: CDBaby. Online: iTunes, Kerf music, and, if they would like a signed copy, through paypal on my website.

What can we expect from you in the future?

More music! A tour in Ontario in the fall, a gorilla hotel room showcase at OCFF, and next year, folk festivals and another trip to Europe.

Winter is coming, and I am busy writing songs for a new album already….but also plan on frequenting the weekly Corktown Ukulele Jam as often as possible…

For more Shelley you can visit her MySpace and watch her YouTube channel.

She might not have had the chance to jam with him when they were making the film, but junkets give you much more time for ukeing it up. Bart Got A Room looks like a damn funny film. It’s got people from Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development and Scrubs in. How could it not be? I’m sure it’ll be out in the UK sometime in 2011.

The song is a pretty straight forward, 4 chord affair. So it shouldn’t present any problems.

Suggested strumming

Other than the single strums that crop up, the main strumming pattern is old faithful:

d -d u – u d –

Watch Bart Got A Room Trailers
Buy Kate Micucci’s music